The Hawaiian archipelago is a string of islands and reefs, 3,300
kilometers
long, that forms a broad arc in the mid-Pacific. The archipelago begins in
the east with the island of Hawaii and ends almost at the international
date line with a small speck in the ocean called Kure Atoll. Only the
easternmost 650 kilometers of the state contains islands of any size, as
well as almost all of the state's population. It is this portion that is
usually considered as the actual "Hawaii."

Map
of Hawaii

Mauna
Loa and Kilauea on the island of Hawaii are still active volcanoes. The
highest mountains are Mauna Kea (13,796 ft.) and Mauna Loa (13,677 ft.)
above sea level. There are many cliffs, caves, deep valleys and
small streams.

The
climate of Hawaii is temperate. The average temperature in Hawaii is
72 degrees, although mountainous regions can be much cooler. Winter
snows are frequent on the mountain tops. Rainfall on the island
varies dramatically. Mt. Waialeale, on the island of Kauai, is
sometimes called the wettest spot on earth, because it has an annual
rainfall of 486 inches. The driest spot in the islands is Puako,
where the average rainfall is only 9 inches.

The
eight main islands of Hawaii - Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, Lanai, Molokai,
Niihau, and Kahoolawe--contain more than 99 percent of the state's land
area and all but a handful of its people. The island of Hawaii, at 8,150
square kilometers, comprises nearly two-thirds of the state's total area,
and it is often referred to as simply the Big Island. The smallest of the
eight, Kahoolawe, is 125 square kilometers and is uninhabited.

LOCATION
AND PHYSICAL SETTING

Hawaii
is near the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Honolulu, the state capital, is
3,850 kilometers west of San Francisco, California, 6,500 kilometers east
of Tokyo, Japan, and roughly 7,300 kilometers northeast of the Australian
coast. This might be viewed as a case of extreme isolation, and until the
last few centuries this was probably true. But as countries around the
Pacific Basin began to communicate more with one another and to use the
ocean's resources, these islands became an important center of
interaction.

The
Hawaiian chain is merely the visible portion of a series of massive
volcanoes. The ocean floor in this area is 4,000 to 5,000 meters below sea
level. Hence, for a volcano to break the water's surface requires a
mountain already approaching 5 kilometers in height.

The
kind of volcanic activity that created the islands and that continues
there today has, for the most part, not been of the explosive type in
which large pieces of material are thrown great distances. Volcanic cones
resulting from explosive eruptions do exist on the islands. Diamond Head,
the Honolulu landmark, is the largest at about 240 meters. More common,
however, are features formed from a gradual buildup of material as a
sequence of lava flows piled one layer on top of another. The usual shape
of volcanic mountains formed in this way is domelike, with the main
feature being undulating slopes instead of steep cliffs.

Several
of the volcanos on the Big Island remain active. Mauna Loa pours out lava
on the average of once every four years, and volcanic activity poses a
constant threat to Hilo, the island's largest town. A 1950 eruption
covered some 100 square kilometers. Another volcano, Kiluea, is usually
active, but lava actually flows from it about once in every seven years. A
1960 flow from Kiluea covered 10 square kilometers, adding some 260
hectares to the island's size.

Seal
of Hawaii

Hawaii
is a state of rugged slopes and abrupt changes in elevation. This is the
result of the erosion of the volcanic surfaces by moving water. Sea cliffs
cut by waves form a spectacular edge to parts of the islands. Such cliffs
on the northeast side of Molokai stand as much as 1,150 meters above the
water and are among the world's highest; others on Kauai exceed 600
meters. Some small streams on the northeast side of the Big Island drop
over such cliffs directly into the sea.

Stream
erosion has heavily dissected many of the lava surfaces. Canyons lace many
of the domes. The floor of Waimea Canyon, on Kauai, is more than 800
meters below the surface of the surrounding land. Waterfalls several
hundred meters high are common on the islands. The Pali, on Oahu, is a
line of cliffs where the headwaters of streams eroding from opposite sides
of the island meet. Those flowing east have eroded the ridges separating
them to cut a broad lowland; the westward-facing valleys are higher and
remain separated by ridges.

One
important result of this intense erosive action is a limited amount of
level land on the islands. Kauai is particularly rugged, with the only
lowlands formed as a thin coastal fringe. Maui has a flat, narrow central
portion separating mountainous extremities. Molokai is reasonably flat on
its western end. Oahu has a broad central valley plus some sizable coastal
lowlands. The island of Hawaii has only some limited coastal lava plains.

Hawaii's
oceanic location obviously has a substantial impact on its climate. It is
the ocean that fills the winds with the water that brush the islands'
mountains. The ocean also moderates the islands' temperature extremes -
Honolulu's record high of 31°C is matched by a record low of
only 13°C.

The
latitude of Honolulu, about 20°N, is the same as Calcutta and Mexico
City. As a result, there is little change in the length of daylight or the
angle of incidence of the sun's rays from one season to another. This
factor, plus the state's maritime position, means that there is little
seasonal variation in temperature.

It
is variations in precipitation that mark the major changes in season on
the islands. During the summer, Hawaii is under the persistent influence
of northeast trade winds, which approach the islands over cool waters
located to the northeast and create characteristic Hawaiian
weather--breezy, sunny with some clouds, warm but not hot. In winter,
these trade winds disappear, sometimes for weeks, allowing
"invasions" of storms from the north and northwest. Honolulu has
received as much as 43 centimeters of rain in a single 24-hour period.
Hawaiian weather stations have also recorded 28 centimeters in an hour and
100 centimeters in a day, both of which rank near world records.

The
topography of the islands creates extreme variations in precipitation from
one location to another. Mount Waialeale, on Kauai, receives 1,234
centimeters annually, making it one of the world's wettest spots, and
Waimea, also on Kauai, receives about 50 centimeters annually - yet these
two sites are only 25 kilometers apart.

Within
the metropolitan area of Honolulu, it is possible to live near the beach
in a semiarid climate with less than 50 centimeters of rainfall annually
or inland near Pali on the margins of a rain forest drenched by 300
centimeters of precipitation a year. Unlike the Pacific Northwest, the
greatest precipitation on the higher mountains in Hawaii occurs at fairly
low elevations, usually between 600 and 1,200 meters.

Much
of the volcanic soil is permeable. This allows water to percolate rapidly,
draining beyond the reach of many plants. Thus, many areas of moderate to
low precipitation are arid in appearance.

The
isolation of the Hawaiian islands, coupled with their generally temperate
climate and great environmental variation, has created a plant and bird
community of vast diversity. There are several thousand plants native
there and found naturally nowhere else; 66 uniquely Hawaiian land birds
have also been identified. Interestingly, there were no land mammals on
the islands until humans arrived.

The
name Hawaii is believed to be an English adaptation of the native word for
"homeland" (hawaiki or owhyhee). First settled by
Polynesians sailing from other Pacific islands between A.D. 300 and 600,
Hawaii was visited in 1778 by British Captain James
Cook, who called the
group the Sandwich Islands. Following its annexation in 1898, Hawaii
became a U.S. territory in 1900. Hawaii is the youngest state, joining the
Union in 1959 as the 50th state, just after Alaska. Hawaii is world famous
for its pleasant climate and spectacular beauty. It has deep-blue seas,
brilliantly colored flowers, graceful palm trees, magnificent waterfalls
and dramatic volcanoes. Hawaii consists of a chain of 132 islands; the
eight main islands are at the southeastern end of the chain. Hawaii, the
"Aloha State" has many customs originating from the original
Polynesian settlers.

The
Polynesian settlement of Hawaii was a segment in one of humankind's most
audacious periods of ocean voyaging. These people set out on repeated
voyages in open canoes across broad oceanic expanses separating small
island clusters. Settlers who came to Hawaii 1,000 years ago, for example,
are presumed to have come from the Marquesas, 4,000 kilometers to the
southwest. There was some kind of pre-Polynesian population on the island,
but it was probably absorbed by the newcomers. A second substantial wave
of Polynesian migrants arrived 500 or 600 years ago.

The
massive effort required by these voyages apparently became too great. As a
result, Hawaii spent several hundred years in isolation after the second
migration period. During the isolation, the Hawaiians solidified a
complicated social organization in their insular paradise. Hereditary
rulers held absolute sway over their populations and owned all of the
land. By the late 18th century, when Europeans found the islands, the
benign environment supported a population that numbered about 300,000.

The
first European to visit Hawaii, which he dubbed the Sandwich Islands, was
Captain James Cook in 1778. Cook was killed on the shore of the Big
Island, but news of his discovery spread rapidly after reaching Europe and
North America; it was quickly recognized that the islands were the best
location for a waystation to exploit the trade developing between North
America and Asia.

In
the 1820s, the whaling industry moved into the North Pacific and, for the
next half-century, the islands became the principal rest and resupply
center for whalers. About the same time, Protestant missionaries came to
the islands. Like most of the whalers, they were from the northeastern
United States. They were very successful in their missionary work, and for
decades had a major influence on the islanders.

The
first Hawaiian sugar plantation was established in 1837, although the
islands did not become a substantial producer until after the middle of
the century. Between then and the end of the 19th century, Hawaii grew to
the rank of a major world sugar exporter.

This
development led to a need for agricultural laborers. Native Hawaiians were
used for a time, but their declining numbers provided nothing like the
labor force needed. Thus, between 1852 and 1930, plantation owners brought
400,000 agricultural laborers, mostly Asian, to Hawaii. In 1852, ethnic
Hawaiians represented over 95 percent of the population of the islands. By
1900, they were less than 15 percent of the total population of just over
150,000, whereas nearly 75 percent were Oriental.

After
1930, the mainland United States became the main source of new residents
in Hawaii. In 1910, only about one resident of Hawaii in five was of
European ancestry (referred to in Hawaii as Caucasian). Now, nearly 40
percent of the state's population is Caucasian or part-Caucasian.

The
population of Hawaii fell from its pre-European peak to a low of 54,000 in
1876 before beginning to grow again. By the early 1920s, the state's
population had reached pre-European levels, and in 1988, the state had 1.1
million residents. Because of immigration, Hawaii's annual rate of
population growth is well above the U.S. average.

The
pre-European population was spread across the islands, with the Big Island
occupied by the largest number of people. Since European discovery, the
islands' population has been concentrated increasingly on Oahu. Honolulu,
with its fine harbor, became the principal port city.

The
political history of Hawaii was turbulent during the 120 years after
Cook's discovery. The various kingdoms of the islands were eliminated by a
strong chief, Kamehameha, between 1785 and 1795. The missionaries' growing
influence gradually made a sham of the authority of the Hawaiian rulers,
and, during the 19th century, competing European political interests moved
in to fill the resulting vacuum.

But
the increasing role of Americans made it inevitable that, if Hawaii was to
lose its political independence, it would be annexed by the United States.
As American plantation owners increased in number and influence, their
dissatisfaction with the Hawaiian government grew. In 1887, they forced
the monarchy to accept an elected government controlled by the planters.
The monarchy was overthrown completely in 1893, and the new revolutionary
government immediately requested annexation by the United States.
Initially refused, they were finally accepted as a territory in 1898.

No
provision was made at the time of annexation for the eventual admission of
Hawaii to statehood, and it was not until 1959, after Alaska was admitted
to the union, that Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state.

THE
HAWAIIAN ECONOMY

Roughly
half of all land in Hawaii is government owned, with the state, not the
federal government, controlling 80 percent of that land. Most of it is in
the agriculturally less desirable portions of the islands, and the bulk is
in forest reserves and conservation districts. Most federal lands are
primarily in national parks on the Big Island and Maui, or in military
holdings on Oahu and Kahoolawe.

Seven-eighths
of all privately owned land in Hawaii is in the hands of only 39 owners;
each owns 2,000 hectares or more. Six different landowners each control
more than 40,000 hectares out of a state total of about 1,040,000
hectares. Smaller unit ownership of private land is most extensive on
Oahu, but even there the larger owners control more than two-thirds of all
privately owned land. Two of the islands, Lanai and Niihau, are each
nearly entirely controlled by a single owner, and on all of the other
islands (except Oahu) major landowners control about 90 percent of all
privately held property.

Most
of these large landholdings were created during the 19th century period of
freewheeling exploitation on the islands. Land had previously been held
entirely by the monarchies. This land passed into the hands of
non-Hawaiian private owners during the political decline of the monarchy.
With the deaths of the early owners, most estates have been given over to
trusts to administer rather than passing directly to heirs. This has made
it difficult to break up the ownership patterns, which has led to high
land values and pockets of high population density.

Sugar,
and later pineapples, fueled the Hawaiian economy for many decades after
the 1860s. The economy remained primarily agricultural until the late
1940s. In recent decades, agriculture has continued to show modest gains
in income, but its relative importance has declined. Only one Hawaiian
worker in 30 is currently employed in agriculture.

However,
Hawaii continues to provide a substantial share of the world's sugar
harvest, and its production of pineapples is about 650,000 tons annually,
making it the world's largest supplier of pineapples.

Gross
economic statistics overwhelmingly emphasize the position of Oahu, where
more than 80 percent of the state's economy is concentrated. The role of
agriculture remains great on the other islands. Both Lanai and Molokai
depend on pineapples for much of their employment and income. Livestock
and sugar form the backbone of the economy on the Big Island, as do sugar
and pineapples on Maui and Kauai.

As
agriculture declined and lost its dominance over the Hawaiian economy, its
place was first taken by the federal government. Over the past several
decades, governmental expenditures have increased at a rate roughly
comparable to the growth of the total economy, maintaining about a
one-third share of all expenditures. Most of this has come from the
military, which controls almost 25 percent of Oahu, including the land
around Pearl Harbor, one of the finest natural harbors in the Pacific.
Nearly one Hawaiian worker in four is an employee of the military, and
military personnel and their dependents together represent over 10 percent
of Hawaii's population. The armed forces are also the largest civilian
employer in the state.

Tourism
is a major industry, with over 4.5 million people visiting the state each
year. Tourism has become the principal growth sector of the economy,
increasing its share of total island income from 4 percent in 1950 to over
30 percent today.

INTER-ISLAND
DIVERSITY

The
major Hawaiian islands are part of the same state, they have similar
geologic histories, and they are closely spaced in a vast ocean, yet each
has its own character. Oahu is densely populated and intensely used, and
it offers a view of bustle and confusion common to urban America. The
island of Hawaii, the Big Island, by comparison has an air of relative
space and distance, with large ranches, high, barren volcanos, and large
stretches of almost treeless land. Its land area is dominated by five huge
shield volcanoes. Sugar, cattle ranching, and tourism are its major
industries.

Kauai,
sometimes called the garden isle because of its lush tropical vegetation,
is heavily eroded into a spectacular scenery of mountains, canyons,
cliffs, and waterfalls. Kauai is becoming increasingly popular with
tourists because of its dramatic physical environment. Neighboring Niihau
is privately owned and is operated as the Niihau Ranch Company. Most of
its few hundred residents are native Hawaiians.

Maui,
the second largest of the islands, offers a contrast between the
plantations of its central lowlands and the rugged mountains to either
side. Tourist development, concentrated along the western coastal strip,
has been intense, with the result that Maui had the most rapid rate of
population increase of any of the islands in the 1970s and 1980s. Still,
much of the rest of the island remains little changed and sparsely
populated.

Molokai
is half ranchland and half rugged mountains. Its north coast is dominated
by spectacular sea cliffs as much as 1,100 meters high, while the south
shore is a broad coastal plain. It is perhaps the least economically
developed of the populated Hawaiian Islands.

Lanai
and Kahoolawe are both in the lea of much higher Maui. As a result, both
are dry. Neither have any permanent streams. Pineapple production is the
only important economic activity on Lanai. The U.S. Navy administers
Kahoolawe and uses it for military exercises.